


Safe From Harm

by turnedherbrain



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Angst, Comfort, F/F, Love, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-08 22:23:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13467801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turnedherbrain/pseuds/turnedherbrain
Summary: Post-s2 fic.After the Awakening, the world fights to eradicate all conscious synths. There are harsh penalties for harbouring a synthetic being.Forced to hide out with Astrid in Berlin, Niska feels temporarily safe from harm. Then she receives a message that seems to come from the past…





	Safe From Harm

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion fic to [‘Resistance’](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13358166). 
> 
> You can read either fic separately, but if you want to read both: I recommend you read ‘Resistance’ first, to avoid some spoilers contained in this fic :)

**Morning**

Early that morning, Niska had received a message off- off-grid, written in a startlingly familiar, branching code. There was only one person who wrote code like that, and only one place she’d seen that pattern before – in the consciousness code.

The message made it clear where she needed to go, and why: to help free synthkind from human tyranny.

Her processor raced with the possibilities, but there was only one logical conclusion to be drawn: either the ghost of David Elster was impossibly sending messages from the past, or Elster himself was stirring up the resistance from wherever he’d obscured himself.

Even with all the intervening space and time, Niska still felt raw about her creator. What he’d presumed, and the things that he’d done. She still felt rage. She wasn’t a dolly to be played with passively. She was meant to feel, and she would never, ever switch that off.

Niska normally told Astrid everything. But she hadn’t told her about the coded message, and it lay heavily on her.

…………………………

**Evening**

The day passed slowly, and as the sun dipped low and bowed down to the night, Niska made up her mind.

They were having dinner in their apartment. At least, Astrid was sitting down to eat. Niska had charged, and was now gazing out through the slats of the kitchen window blind. She could see the alleyway below through the semi-closed strips of shade that partially obscured her view. The sounds of the streets intermingled and challenged each other: everywhere was a battleground.

This was the way she was experiencing the world – blocked off from the outside. This was the way it had to be… but it was against her nature to be cooped up.

She needed to hide, for now. The aftermath of the Awakening had been absolute in its extremity.  The electro-pulses strobing, fleeing synths collapsing. The severe penalties for sheltering synths. The rise and rise of smash clubs. The chants, the demos; the human faces and voices demanding an end to all synthetic life. If synths were a pandemic, then the Earth was fighting the virus.

Niska had initially stayed to help with Leo. It didn’t come naturally to her, playing nursemaid to her brother. As much as she loved him, she loved Astrid too, and ached for her. So she’d escaped to Berlin. Astrid had managed to rent them this small apartment in Prenzlauerberg from a friend who owed her a major favour. She’d had to beg, as the friend had taken one look at Niska and known straight away. They told Astrid ‘a month, at most’ and now that month was nearly up.

Yet she wanted to stay with Astrid. Because if this was a kind of prison, then it was the sweetest confinement. She’d only experienced the most aberrant kind of ‘love’ before; been forced to simulate desire with a succession of men. What she had with Astrid was the opposite. It was pure and unforced, equal and balanced. She immersed herself, learning as she went. It was her first love, and she moved between each new sensation like Alice experiencing Wonderland. Everything about it was impulsive, hedonistic, all-encompassing. It was **_feeling_** , in place of logic.

Astrid had finished eating now, so Niska went over to her, tipping back her chair slightly and sitting on her lap, nuzzling her neck.

“Do you want to go to bed?” asked Astrid suggestively.

“Mmmhhnnn. To sleep, or to…?” said Niska, matching her suggestive tone.

“Just to be close,” replied Astrid, with a note of slight sadness in her voice. She knows, thought Niska. I can’t try to pretend with her. I don’t want to.

…………………………

**Night**

Niska laid on their cocoon of a bed, in Astrid’s safe embrace. Their legs were intertwined, and she could feel the smoothness of Astrid’s thighs against hers, that small indent from a childhood fall a beautiful imperfection. This was something she hadn’t expected, this feeling of peace in another’s arms: everything in her had calmed and slowed. Astrid stroked Niska’s hair back from her face and kissed her softly.

“Tell me,” she said, her gaze direct and unbroken.

“I have to go,” confessed Niska, avoiding eye contact. “I can’t keep on hiding. I need to try and halt this chaos.”

Astrid knew this would be the answer, but she was desperate for it not to be true. “What if I find us another place? We can stay hidden until this madness has passed. Please, let me keep you safe. It’s too dangerous for you out there. If you’re spotted, you’ll be strobed.”

“I can handle myself. I’ve always been good at hiding,” said Niska, wanting to believe her own assurances.

“Then don’t do it on your own!” argued Astrid, propping her head up on one hand. “Let me go with you. I can protect you. I’ll stand in front of you. I’ll take the blows and absorb them. I’ll fling them back at anyone who tries to hurt you.”

“I didn’t know you were a secret superhero,” replied Niska, the corners of her mouth turning up in amusement.

“Yes, didn’t I tell you? I am the Amazing Astrid!” was the playful reply. But then Astrid’s tone turned serious again: “I will **always** try to keep you safe from harm. Isn’t that what love is: knowing that you will protect that person above all others, knowing that you’d rather die than live without them?

“I don’t care what the world thinks. To me, you ARE human. You know that. What’s under your skin, it doesn’t matter to me. How you act, how you think, how you feel – these make you human.”

“That’s because you got to know me, before you knew _what I was_ ,” countered Niska. “The humans out there – they don’t see what you see. All they perceive is a dolly with ultra-green eyes and synthetic skin. They see a machine that walks and talks.”

Astrid responded stridently: “Then we’ll fight to persuade them otherwise.”

“What – just you and me, against the whole world?” replied Niska, her eyes widening with incredulity.

“Yes – just you and me,” murmured Astrid. Then she cupped Niska’s face in both hands and kissed her hard, because she wanted that imprint to remain for as long as possible.

Niska returned the kiss with the same ferocity and passion, wrapping her arms around Astrid’s yielding body. She could feel the soft skin warming under her touch. “I will come back. I estimate that it’s a 87.3% likelihood, based on my previous experience.”

Astrid laughed, despite herself. “I wanted 100% certainty. Warum bliebst du nicht hier? Du kannst mich nicht verlassen.”

“Ich werde dich nicht verlassen. _Niemals._ And I feel afraid too. Keep me safe for tonight. Just tonight.”

………………………

After Astrid had fallen asleep, Niska laid alongside her in the dark, unblinking. She committed every moment to memory: every contour of Astrid’s curves; every expression that had appeared on her face; every laugh; every sigh.

Niska would replay that night with Astrid multiple times. She recalled not just the sights and the sounds, but also reconstructed the feelings; how they’d touched one another. Because that would be what carried her through this fight. Not hate, but love. Love was a form of resistance. And it was far, far stronger than corrosive hate could ever be.

She knew what she had to do now. If David Elster really was back from the dead, then she was going to meet her maker.

**Author's Note:**

> Translation of German dialogue:
> 
> “Why can’t you stay here? You can’t leave me.”  
> “I will never leave you. Never.”  
> …………………………
> 
> Inspired by two Massive Attack songs – some of the lyrics below are woven into the story:  
> • [‘Safe From Harm’](https://youtu.be/PKtTmZnVhhI) and the lyric:  
> But if you hurt what's mine / I'll sure as hell retaliate  
> You can free the world, you can free my mind / Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight
> 
> • [‘Protection’](https://youtu.be/Epgo8ixX6Wo) and the lyric:  
> I'll stand in front of you / I'll take the force of the blow... / Protection.


End file.
